Ganguly Announces Retirement!

[Shane]

AFTER MUCH hype, finally, the ‘Prince of Kolkata’, Sourav Ganguly announced his retirement from international cricket. On Tuesday (October 7), afternoon, the former Indian captain disclosed his retirement decision at a press conference in Bangalore. Ganguly said he will quit cricket after the upcoming four-Test series against Australia starting this Thursday (October 9). The left-handed batsman mentioned that he had already informed his teammates that this would be his last series in international cricket. Earlier, Ganguly was left out of the India team for the Irani Trophy match, against Delhi. On selectors’ decision, people started speculations that Ganguly would not find place in home series against Australia. Surprisingly, this 36-year-old veteran batsman was included in the Test squad. In fact, in the press conference Ganguly himself admitted that he didn’t expect to be selected for this series. Nicknamed Dada, Ganguly started his Test career in a superb fashion in 1996, by scoring a ton at the Mecca of Cricket, Lord’s. In his very first Test series, Ganguly impressed all by hitting back-to-back tons. The left-handed batsman continued his superb performance further and also became the captain of Indian cricket team. Ganguly’s aggressive nature made him a successful captain and India witnessed a number of victories under his captaincy. For a short time due to bad form, Ganguly lost his place in the team and the captaincy as well. But he made a good comeback in late 2006, in South Africa. He also scored his career-best 239, against Pakistan in Bangalore in 2007 and ended the year with an impressive average of 61.44. Considered as the all time best successful captain, Ganguly was under the scanner following his dismal performance in the recent Test series against Sri Lanka. The Bengal batsman scored less than 100 runs in the series, with best score of 35 and a very poor average in six innings. It seemed that selectors would not provide him much chance to play further. Ganguly’s exclusion from Irani Trophy team strengthened speculations for his retirement. Meanwhile, the left-hand batsman denied retirement plans. However, Ganguly’s decision ended all speculations and the country will certainly miss a first-rate cricketer. The veteran of over 100 Tests has a poor record against Australia at home. He has scored at an average of 27.35 in nine matches, with a best score of 66. Ganguly is well known for his fighting skills; hope he will end his career in a terrific way by scoring a couple of good knocks. How will we remember Sourav Ganguly? The God of the off-side, a captain beyond compare, or a man who lived by his own rules and made some new ones? Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday decided to end his cricket career, a career that leaves us with memories that generations will cherish. We lived in a time when Ganguly made us gasp in admiration. CNN-IBN celebrated the career of India's most successful captain along with Sharda Ugra, Deputy Editor, India Today, former India and Bengal player Deep Dasgupta, former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, and former India coach Lalchand Rajput. Averaging more than 40 in both forms of the game, Ganguly is just 112 runs short of completing 7,000 runs in Test cricket. Chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth earlier told CNN-IBN that the choice was left to him whether to call time on his career, after speculation over an alleged deal between the BCCI and senior players of an 'honourable exit'. Sharda Ugra chose to go with the players' version, saying there was no such deal. "Sections of the Board are out to make themselves important, while the players insist there has been no such deal. The senior players will all say they have done it keeping the team's interest in mind. The senior players said that none of them were approached. It just depends on who you want to believe. I would obviously go with Sourav Ganguly." In the press conference, Ganguly said he didn't expect to be picked for the Test series after being ignored for the Irani Trophy. Former India coach Lalchand Rajput believes that perhaps Ganguly started thinking about it after the Irani Trophy match. "It was a bold decision. I know how hard it is to quit playing cricket after playing for so long. He made the decision at the right time because this is an important series. He knows that he won't have any pressure, so he can go out there and play freely and retire on a high. Perhaps he felt he was on the firing line all the time. And now that he has quit, let someone else be on the firing line," Rajput told CNN-IBN, adding that he didn't suspect any deal between the former India captain and the BCCI. But was it the right time? Although the debacle in Sri Lanka would be clearly etched in mind, Ganguly's career graph since his comeback in December 2006 has been remarkable. He has averaged 45.05 since, more than his career stats. "I guess it was a lot of pressure. It's also a good time because a lot of youngsters are doing well too. But as his recent stats show, he is quitting quite close to his peak," observed Ganguly's former team-mate Deep Dasgupta. Farewells have often been scripted terribly in India and Pakistan. "This is why it's a bold decision. India are playing Australia at home. For a cricketer like Sourav Ganguly. He has seen a lot of hard times, but his comeback set has set a benchmark for youngsters all over the world. You keep trying till you succeed," said Moin Khan, Ganguly's long time adversary.

[beetle]

Bye Bye Skipper number 1!:isalute:

[coffee_rules]

Ganguly goes out a bitter man, saying nasty things about team-mates, selectors and all his detractors. He says all that in Bengali! He points out the record of Dravid and Tendulkar and says funny mean things to Dhoni. ---------------- I was not prepared to take any more humiliation: Dada Kolkata, October 9: Hitting out at the previous Dilip Vengsarkar-led selection committee, Sourav Ganguly said he decided to retire to save himself from further humiliation of being treated as the ‘sacrificial goat’ all the time while others are spared. "There is no point playing like this. I am not willing to play at their (selectors') mercy. They will pick you now and then dump you. Why should I be the sacrificial goat all the time? It was difficult to accept," Ganguly, who announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday, said. "If a gun is held at your head, how far can you bear it. That too after playing 450 matches. I played badly in only one series. But others are not dropped. I have scored the highest number of runs after comeback," he was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Aaj Kaal. "How long would I have played? May be upto 2009. May be seven more Tests. For that I was not prepared to take any more humiliation," he added. Ganguly said being dropped from the Irani Trophy Rest of India squad by the selection panel led by Vengsarkar was the last nail in the coffin and he thought he had faced enough humiliation by then. "I never thought I will be out of the Irani team. I couldn't sleep for one month in anger, agony. Had this committee (new selection committee) come three years ago, things might have been different," said the 36-year-old left hander. When reminded of Sunil Gavaskar's comments that he and VVS Laxman are always put under pressure, Ganguly was at his sarcastic best. "Everything happens in Indian cricket. When Greg Chappell dropped me, he chose T P Singh to replace me. Where is he now?" Ganguly asked. "Some have not scored any runs in the last three series, some have not scored any run during the last one year. Some have changed their hair style more number of times than the number of runs they have scored. I was dropped despite scoring the highest number of runs following my comeback." Dropping from the Irani Trophy hurt Ganguly so much that he considered it more painful than being sacked from the team after a spat with then coach Chappell. "Exclusion from the Irani team hurt more. Then I thought, it is the end," he said when asked which of the two was more painful. With all the trials and tribulations in his eventful but illustrious 16-year-long international cricketer, Ganguly is a satisfied man. "I have played 109 Tests, over 300 ODIs. I am the fourth highest run getter in the country, the total runs in Tests and ODIs being 18,251. Ninth in the world. I took the team to World Cup final. Defeated Australia in Australia. Won the series in Pakistan, altogether 21 Test wins. But, you don't get everything you want," he said. The Bengal stalwart said he carefully mulled over his retirement decision and thought it was the right time to go. "I have thought over it a lot. I took the decision after considering everything. I thought it was the best time to go. I wanted to end the matter before the Australia series started. All speculation was telling on me. The selectors said something and did something else." Asked if he was sad over the fact that he would not play again for India, Ganguly said, "I am also a human being. Cricket is a passion. Anybody will feel sad. But it is not as tough as I thought it will be. Now I feel a huge load has been removed." On playing in the swangsong series, the left-hander said he would want to end his career on a high by helping the team win the series against Australia. "I aim at the team winning the series. It will be great if I end up on the winning side. I am concentrating on the four Tests," he said. ----------------

[Fontaine]

What a crybaby. The guy has played over 109 tests and 300 ODIs and he STILL complains like a b*tch. Not only that but shows complete disregard and disrespect to current and former team mates with his stupid selfish criticism. I would tell this guy to grow up but what's the point. He's a crybaby who's openly complained and whined to the media every time something goes wrong and blames everybody else but himself. What a jerk. Dravid also had a rough time, with people openly criticizing him at every failure. He was dropped from the ODI team as well and will soon be dropped from the test side as well. But you don't hear Rahul Dravid acting like a spoiled b*tch to the media. The guy has always conducted himself like a gentleman, with honor and diginity and most importantly showed respect towards the game. All Ganguly has shown is that he's a media attention seeking coward no matter how good a cricketer he was. Screw you Saurav, we don't need you in the team, and now you can piss off after this series. We don't need your crippled fielding, crappy running between the wickets and dumb ass self propoganda.

[beetle]

His out burst against his teammates is in bad taste. I expected better off him. Specially after all his teammates heaping praises on him.sad.

[Dravid]

wtf, is that blown out of line artical from cricketnext? and he is right, and has the balls to say...fountain buy a danda and shove it up yours :D

[Lord]

fully agree with everything but should have said it a little later